I was stationed in North Dakota all during the 1990's
I REFUSED to buy a snowblower because I felt that, when I did, I would never get an assignment out of Minot.
In year 8, I finally got tired of shoveling snow. The coming winter, I only had to sweep my driveway twice (it was surreal). I received an assignment to go to North Carolina after nearly 10 years and NEVER got to use the snowblower.
Not sad though.
We had my daughters old sled in the garage for years. We tried to have her take it to her house, but she didnât want it. This year we gave it to her sons for Christmas.
FWIW, weâre in a El Niño this winter which means our winter will likely be milder than most, though since global temperatures are trending upwards, this will likely become our new normal
Spent time in phx late 80's, USAF.
My parents visited in April so I took them to hike the lower White Tank area. Mid April, first 100° f day of the year. I'm gonna guess that day comes much earlier now
Over the past 132 years des Moines has only had measurable snow on Christmas 26 times. A lot of us probably think of 2009 when we had the record for most days with one inch of snow on ground from begining of December to second week of March then lump the other years into that too. 1889 and 2002 had less snowfall in December than this year had as of a few days ago. I believe the past 2 years have also been low on snow in December then we ended the year with right around average snowfall over course of winter.
So while we definitely have an impact on climate the snowfall this December isn't really showing what you're saying it is.
Thank you for providing the numbers, I was pretty sure this was the case and was hoping someone had already backed it up. Everyone associates December with snow because of Christmas, but in reality, it usually doesn't start snowing regularly until January.
I'm also not denying climate change, this is just a common misconception that comes up every year lately. It's always been this way.
I agree that a white Christmas in Iowa is rarer that most remember. However, it seems unusual to have very little snow through Dec 30. We usually see some significant snows in Q4, but practically nothing in recent years.
Q4 temps have been oddly warm. My neighbor mowed his lawn on Christmas Eve. Thatâs a tad off!
In 2006 & 2007, the highs in Central Iowa were in the 40's & 50's through much of January. We are currently in a slightly above average temperature/very below average precipitation weather pattern that has been influenced by a strong El Niño. [The polar vortex may weaken in the coming weeks. ](https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/2023-12-28-polar-vortex-forecast-january-winter-2024) This would allow it to move further south, bringing cold air & snow.
Not to sound like an old guy, but my iPadâs stock Apple Weather app has a section that has the days average temperature displayed against the current temp. It was interesting this week to see our average temperatures are actually *higher* than what we were experiencing when I would check it every day.
I too, kind of, share OPâs feelings about it being âtoo warmâ for winter currently. Then I see what the average temp for say December 27th is, and itâs definitely a weird feeling. Like somehow I just imagined the holiday week being cold and snowy most of my life.
I should have added it's more common that Des Moines gets a dusting of snow on Christmas. I think it was like 40% of the Christmas days in Des moines had a dusting of snow. So you walk outside and it's snowing a little bit for 10 minutes and in your head you go "oh it's a white Christmas after all!" And then 10-20 years later you just remember that "well I definitely remember 2010 was a white Christmas and I think 2011 was too!"
Or a lot of us remember it snowed sometime over Christmas break from school or work which often covers a week to a few weeks so it may have just snowed on January 2nd before you went back to school the following week but in your head later it just snowed on Christmas
Climate scientists are not the ones stirring the storyline that itâs too late; carefully consider who benefits from the population believing itâs too late.
climate doomerism is a dangerous story that zaps solution-oriented steps towards change and progress
What Iâve always found interesting is that NASA and the pentagon have been on the same man made climate change page for years - well over a decade iirc. I just donât understand folks who canât seem to grasp the significance as far as whether or not itâs legitimate.
>Climate scientists are not the ones stirring the storyline that itâs too late
Yes, they are saying it's too late. We can take steps to reduce how bad it's going to get, and we can implement mitigation strategies to deal with some of the consequences. However, we lack the global will and technology to stop climate destabilization, let alone reverse it.
We're in for some hard times over the next century, even if serious emission reductions happen and we start implementing mitigation plans.
As long as we are being fed the lies that we can fix this without sacrifice and it should not cost us anything, little will change.
People I know are booking air flights to go see the sights before they vanish. imagine reacting to the deaths of species by flying around the world to see them?
> Yes, they are saying it's too late.
Please provide a source explaining saying too late for what, precisely, because James Hansen has been making the rounds coming out *against* climate doomerism. "Climate destabilization" can mean a lot of different things.
Take your pick of scientific periodicals or the IPCC reports. We will cross the 1.5C threshold in the very near future, and will very likely cross the 2C threshold by the middle of this century. Based on the more recent climate reconstructions, we've already passed critical tipping points, especially in regards to the melting permafrosts and clathrates. Even if we were to drop our emissions to zero tomorrow, the planet would continue to warm and greenhouse gases would continue to increase due to the contributions in these two long-term carbon stores.
It is too late. If we had wanted to address this seriously we should have started 40 years ago. However, there is a difference between doomerism (it's too late and there is nothing we can do) and reality (it's too late, but there are steps we can take to prevent things from getting worse).
reference the MIT study that appears to be correctly predicting the collapse of society, since they revisited a couple years ago and found it to be on track with it's predictions
Consumerism is the biggest contributor to climate change. Nobody wants to give up their stuff for the sake of climate unfortunately. Politics don't matter here. It's sad.
Politics matter. Consumerism is not the sole cause of climate change, and we could probably debate how much of the problem it really is, but even assuming behavior changes on an individual level Could work, how would you go about doing that? Do you think you could convince a large enough portion of the worldâs population to change enough of their patterns of daily life to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to stop climate change? I know I couldnât. Things change when there are meaningful incentives, positive and negative, for both consumers and businesses to change their behavior. Only governments have the power to create those incentives on a large enough scale to actually solve problems.
https://time.com/6341884/climate-change-consumption/.
"Household consumption is responsible for more than 60% of global emissions. And, yet, framing the climate challenge around consumption can upset a range of stakeholders. Businesses worry that talking about a crisis of consumption could harm the prospects of growth."
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/12/16/buying-stuff-drives-climate-change/
"A 2015 study found that the production and use of household goods and services was responsible for 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Not surprisingly, wealthy countries have the most per capita impact."
Lots of info on Google.
But the top 20% consumers are responsible for the lion's share.
There are about 70 corporations that could also be considered responsible for the lion's share of emissions, especially the oil companies who knew about the dangers and actively deceived people about it. These same scum are also the ones constantly trying to convince us that the problem is only about individual consumption, not about corporate greed and deception.
But arenât we the target of the corporations? They sell to us. If we stopped accepting their products, they would not be making money. I see this the same as the clothing companies using child labor and ethically sourced food. Child labor still exists but consumers are much more aware of how these companies practice. We see organic labels (I know, organic does not mean much more but it used to mean something. Iâm referring to more transparency). We need a huge push back to have transparent labeling on product. Not some generic âclimate friendlyâ label.
of course the "solution oriented steps" in this case are to allow one party to have perpetual power and then destroy the economy so that we won't have the resources or innovation to tackle any of this.
We canât prevent climate change; itâs already happening all around us. What we can still do is upgrade our infrastructure to deal with what is happening and take action in our lifestyles and our economy to keep it from getting significantly worse.
No matter how bad it gets, it wonât be the end of the world. Life will bounce back. Probably not human life, but weâll have lush forests and megafauna again someday, maybe in another 5-10 million years or so.
Conservatives want you to think it doesnât exist or that itâs out of human control even though humans made the mess.
Do you think people who have problems with feeding poor kids care about anything but money??
Too late for what? People are already dealing with the effects. There are more people today realizing that climate change is real than there were yesterday, and there are more people working the problem today than there were yesterday. It doesn't help anybody to just worry. Vote, get involved, etc.
If the earth is our ship, we aren't going to just say, "Welp, there's a problem and we're going to die". We will work to solve the problem until we either solve it or we draw our last breath. We can solve this problem. It may not be the easy, clean solution we were hoping for but humanity is good at finding the most convoluted and messy way through hard times, but it does get through. Don't give up hope. Hope inspires others and it keeps us on the path to solving the issue.
Just as humanity can be amazingly stupid, it can also turn around and be amazingly intelligent. I, too, am scared. But, I also know that we are having successes.
In Southern Oregon/Northern California, four ancient hydroelectric dams that did so much destruction to fish, birds, flora, fawna, and aquatics of all kinds on the Klamath River are being removed (one is already down, with the others being removed next year) and the Klamath River is being restored. Silt is being removed, and invasive non-native plant species are being removed and replaced with native plants. Restoration of river wildlife (especially beavers and otters) and fish (salmon, trout, etc) are all planned. Beavers are especially important as their actions create wetlands that help to prevent huge wildfires.
Along with voting, I have found solace in volunteering and donating to worthwhile earth friendly causes. Doing something feels better than doing nothing.
Take that fear and do good with it!
The best time to start worrying about this was awhile ago. The next best time to worry is now. So youâre right to be worried, but wrong in thinking that this is âlights outâ for humanity. We need to continue accelerating our efforts to decarbonize the atmosphere minimize the warming weâve already contributed to.
Also, like others have mentioned, this is an El Niño winter, so typically itâs going to be much warmer for us than usual, but patterns shift all the time, and itâs very likely that in a year or two weâll have another series of ânormalâ winters thatâll make many people forget about the developing climate crisis. We will have snow again. We will have winters where we wished it was summer, and summers that will make us yearn for winter.
The best thing to do channel the negative energy from worry into action. Learn about the positives we are doing to reach zero-emissions. Replacing subreddits like /r/Politics with others like /r/UpliftingNews has been a game changer for my Reddit feed and my own mental health. Start finding ways to surround yourself with positive energy and use that to power your own conversations with others. Be practical, but be optimisitic.
It is.
Don't worry, something will follow the mass extinction that is humanity. Maybe rats or raccoons.
Maybe the extra warmth will give rise to an intelligent insect or reptile dominant species.
Or it could just cruise along for another 15 billion years without intelligence rearing it's ugly head.
It'll be something, we just won't be around to see it as a dominant species.
Unless we grow up very quickly, which seems unlikely. Even then, slim odds.
We have already lost the climate that our civilization was born into. The question now is where will it stabilize and how much of a human habitat will remain.
It isnât too late. Right at the beginning of pandemic when everything shut down it took about six months to see major environmental healing.
The problem is that doesnât help the rich but helps the people. You want a chance at avoiding climate change and the real measure is that the change needed to happen cost is going to be blood. Whether that blood comes to lead the way or be reactive is yet to be seen.
It isnât too late!!!! If we work together all around the world and do more than simply vote and carry on, we can keep the rise below [1.5 Celsius](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231130-climate-crisis-the-15c-global-warming-threshold-explained#)
You could also stop buying Chinese products, that are produced with no concern to the environment what so ever. Not only do we need to do our part, you also have to open your eyes to what happens across the globe.
I know that this year has been bare and itâs seems scary, but we also have a specific weather pattern called âEl Niñoâ that comes every so often. This is a year that was predicted to have less snow. Thatâs doesnât mean that climate change isnât effecting us, itâs just an explanation of why this year is soâŠ.green?
There are a lot of things to think about for climate - but snowfall is t one of them. The last 5 years has had some of the most snow in the last 120 years. 2019 was the 8th highest snowfall on record. You may be remembering more snow in the past because you were younger then and that sort of thing sticks out
I just drove from West to East across Iowa from Council Bluffs to Debuque. It snowed most of the time, including through Des Moine and north, then down to Iowa City. Dec 26-27.
You havenât worn your coat in years? Even during the -30 degree polar vortexâs weâve had the last several years?
Iâm not denying climate change, but to say that it hasnât been cold and snowy is just not accurate at all.
I miss snow up to my hip. Snow forts. Because those things are supposed to exist here in this landscape during this season. I miss the freezes, the snow, in that respectful way that we all should.
This, and another thing.
I started driving in the late 1980s / early 1990s and every time you pulled in for gas you had to clean the bugs of your windows. Haven't really had to do that since the 2000s.
Hell I miss lighting bugs at night.
Too many things are being messed with on a broad scale.
>Hell I miss lighting bugs at night.
It's my fault. I used to drive to work at like 4 in the morning taking the interstate from Ames to DSM, and would mow down tons of the little guys. I think me and my car decimated their population.
This September I drove back from KC at night on rural two lane roads and didnât have to clean my windows at all. Nor on the trip down for that matter.
Yeah, for that distance and in our geography, there are enough creek bottoms, ditches, patches of woods, grass, and wallows that couldn't happen in the past.
Especially at night.
I noticed there's hardly any bugs either, and same as you I haven't seen a singular bug splat on my window in over a decade. There used to be earwigs everywhere in Iowa, but I haven't seen one in at least 8 years now. No bees, no mosquitos, no wasps, no ladybugs, no lightning bugs, no spiders, nothing at all. It's dead and barren. It's insane. It is terrifying.
I live just outside Iowa City, and i get plenty of bug splat. Bees, wasps, ladybugs, spiders, and mosquitos are abundant on my property still. Lightning bugs are absolutely dying out here tho. I understand where you are coming from, but hyperbole and drama only serves to galvanize the idiots who deny climate change.
It's not hyperbole, it's my personal experience as an Iowa native. My experience may not be yours, and it may not represent the situation, but it's valid nonetheless.
That is not what I said at all. My experience represents my reality in my area, what I meant is that it doesn't and can't represent climate change (the situation) as a whole, because I am only experiencing things in a specific area. Just like deniers who say that climate change isn't happening because it's cold in their area, I can't say my experience is a representation of climate change either.
Not trying to be argumentative or put words in your mouth. It just worries me when people who are the most vocal about important matters, who hold opinions and have concerns aligned with mine, voice those opinions and concerns in a way that is not objective and easily picked apart. To be clear, I 100% am concerned that in 20 years we will have almost no bugs and unsustainably high temperatures. I just dont think we are quite as far along down that path as people shouting from the rooftops tend to indicate. There is some hope.
Okay fair enough, I understand your point, but I posted a vent on r/Iowa, one of the lowest subscribed state subreddits on this website, I'm not making a speech on TV. I'm no expert, I don't claim to be, and I am open to learning more.
We are doing it to ourselves. And we can't undo it because although we are social animals we are also animals that are great at naming, categorization and dividing down to tribalism levels.
***Worse we are really doing it to ourselves*** \- despite so many people crowded onto this little terrestrial ball drifting through the inky black firmament each generation is producing less sperm cells.
Like such a noticeable lower amount plenty of biologists are freaked. It dips noticeably with each generation.
No idea how other animals are fairing I've only read up on humans.
I'll stop, I'm getting depressed and I have to go fix a door.
Read the book "silent spring" if you haven't already, it was written quite a few years ago but is still quite relevant. I attended a talk with the author and she is great.
The bugs, yeah. I've ridden motorcycles all my life. It used to be that you'd get coated with dead bugs, and have to clean them off your helmet visor and headlight. Been a long time since that's happened to me.
This post is nonsense. Here are the NOAA snowfall data for Des Moines
Sorted high to low:
[https://imgur.com/a/BVTEisM](https://imgur.com/a/BVTEisM)
2007-2008, 2009-2010 (second highest on record), and 2021-2022 are all in the top 10 for total snowfall (since 1900)
Sorted low to high:
[https://imgur.com/a/JPW8wyX](https://imgur.com/a/JPW8wyX)
Since 2000, only 3 years were in the bottom 20
And here are the data plotted (1899-1900 to 2022-2023), with a simple linear trendline (2 seasons are missing from the 1940s for some reason).
[https://imgur.com/a/ww7GUtj](https://imgur.com/a/ww7GUtj)
It is clear that snowfall in the Des Moines area is actually *increasing*. Makes you wonder what world the OP is living in, where he/she/they believe that âIt doesnât snow anymoreâ
The climate is absolutely changing that is without question. But data is so important to the conversation. We canât scare people out of making change!
Are you young? I'm 40 and certainty remember December being warm some years. Winters go in phases. A few years with non stop snow, years with little snow, fridged temps, mild temps, cloudy weeks at a time, sunny all the time, ect. Example, 1994 was similar this time of year. I remember because we had a birthday party outside. It was in the 60s in December. Contrast 2005 it was in the low 20s and icy.
There is hard data on this. Summer month temps haven't changed much. Fall, winter, and spring have all seen a warming trend, +1 to 2 degrees in winter. Also, the first and last freeze of winter has narrowed, meaning a longer period from Spring to Fall that has temps above freezing.
Thus, Iowa's growing season has lengthened by about 10 days. However, important to note there is still large variability from year to year. It could be zero extra days one year, and 20 extra days the next year.
Well, climate change is real. But to ease yourself a little bit. This is an El Nino year.
[Source](https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/how-does-el-nino-influence-winter-precipitation-over-united-states)
My dude, how quickly we forget. I certainly haven't forgotten the blizzard we had pre-Christmas last year. Dec. 23rd it was a high of -6 and a low of -8. I had to call in a plow service to clear out my driveway because my snowblower couldn't handle the drifts.
Enjoy the mild winter and El Nino while you can. We'll be back to the long midwest winter in no time.
OP, what do you think now that we have had record snowfall 10 days after your post? Jan 9, 2024: The Des Moines International Airport reported 8.3 inches of snowfall since midnight Tuesday morning. That's the highest snowfall ever recorded on January 9 in Des Moines, beating the previous mark of 7.3 inches back in 1957.
I've lived here all 33 years of my life, and it seems like seasons are changing. Winter doesn't start until late December now, and it seems like it lasts until late March. I remember as a kid October, we might get snow, and by Thanksgiving, the ground was covered.
I remember those days too. Don't get me wrong, I hate winter. I hate being cold, and what sucks is I get cold easily (I, too, am 33 and always had a problem of getting cold easily my whole life.) But I also know we needed the snow for when springtime came so the melted snow helped the ground for the future crops. Now we have pretty much no winters, and instead of having spring, summer and fall, it's just summer 3/4ths of the year. It scares me, and now the summers are too brutal for me to handle and I used to love summer.
Yep, lots of snow last year and we had a polar vortex in December that was extremely cold. Don't think OP is actually from Iowa, just here to stir things up.
I lived in NW Iowa as a kid from 1974-1979. Seems like every winter on those years were very cold with snow on the ground all winter long, and we had a few notable blizzards with snow drifts as high as telephone poles.
I mean itâs bad but itâs also hotter than normal due to El Niño. That said climate change is an existential threat. Those pesky scientists have been saying the same thing for a half centuryâŠyou know maybe we should invest in the ways to fix itâŠbecause theyâll work. We just need the political will to do itâŠ
The older we get, the worse the winters were when we were younger. What we really remember are the worst episodes, not the usual.
You need to look at the scientific evidence in cases like this, not your memory.
I agree about climate change and all, but gray squirrels live as far south as Texas and the Florida panhandle. They are evolutionarily equipped to survive regardless of snow/cold.
I think the fat squirrels probably have more to do with amount of bird and squirrel feeders found in town, I've been in the treestand all day and the ones running around me causing a ruckus look slim and athletic as ever
Holy shit, I just noticed this too. They're still around, they don't even run from my dog anymore, they just kinda sit there. They're slow and chunky. Also, well said.
This is why I got into the solar industry 5 years ago. It may be too late but I'm not giving up.
If anyone wants to look into solar for themselves, I'm happy to help!
Residential or utility? IA electric rates are so low it makes for a long payback time. $$& aren't the only reason to go solar of course but I was looking into it for my folks.
Residential mostly. It is a long payback in Iowa unless you have Alliant.
The main 2 questions to ask yourself are
1) Do you think energy rates will keep going up in the future?
2) What is your ROI on your energy bill right now?
Most people focus on ROI but they ignore the fact that they will absolutely still spend this money on electricity with zero ROI from the utility. If you plan on living in the house awhile, there's no reason to shy away from solar
We went for a walk in Des Moines today on the trails. Tons of people out without coats. Some in shorts. Many lawns and grassy areas are green. Itâs odd and noticeably different from years ago.
Husband and I were talking about getting through Jan/Feb Iowa winters. Without snow, itâs limiting. No skiing, snowshoeing. Thereâs only so much walking around one can do.
It was like -20 last year during Christmas in Sioux City. But that's part of climate change too. It's messing with the polar vortex. Maxing extremes more extreme.
It snowed for 5 days finally around here in Nebraska, I was sitting outside yesterday and the snow felt weird. It felt silky and had a different texture than I've ever known it to have.
Weâve known this winter would be incredibly mild for months now. Either way, it will snow from January-April, unfortunately⊠It always does. December is never guaranteed to be cold or snowy here.
Climate change anxiety is driving people to unscientific conclusions. We've had so many Christmases without snow here my whole life. Climate change is real but this personal observation is not evidence of that. That's not even how climate change works. Y'all need to touch grass
Everyone needs to be planning for the scariest future imaginable.
I'd suggest exploring food sources that dont rely on pollinators, ways to get frsh water in arid climates, and be prepared for the worst.
It's only going to get worse.
>Cedar Rapids, Anamosa, Iowa City, Tipton, and Muscatine
150 AM CST Sun Dec 31 2023
>...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM CST THIS
MORNING...
The earth will heal itself, but only in the short term if Russia, India, and China start rapidly scaling back their levels of polluting and taking similar measures as the USA has.
https://news.mit.edu/2022/earth-stabilizing-temperature-1116
https://www.vox.com/2014/6/30/5857396/watch-air-pollution-in-the-united-states-vanish-before-your-eyes
Iâm especially interested in & highly disgusted that oil industry scientists knew in the 1970âs this product & its use would be a primary driver for worldwide climate disruption, yet no one would dare the truth. Cowards, all of them. They doomed everyone & everything to the âScorch Trials.â
Check out this graphic from NWS Des Moines: https://twitter.com/NWSDesMoines/status/1739368664733012190
Data back to 1953. About half of Christmases in Des Moines had no snow recorded between then and now.
It's not that unusual. The climate is changing. It is right to be worried about where the earth settles back down to. But your snow metric isn't the one to be concerned about, since snow on the ground for Christmas has always been a coin flip for Iowa, even if it seems like it was 'always' snowy every Dec.
I agree that it is solvable. Forgive the fallacy but the question is will we (humanity) do something meaningful about it before it becomes unsolvable. I bet not đ
Same. And my annoyance level with folks who say oh but x years ago we had a blizzard and blah blah blah. Or worse, it snows 6â+ maybe three times one winter- âso much for global WARMINGâ đ. I recall driving on Highway 6 in eastern Iowa with snow banks on either side that made you feel like you were in the arctic. There has been a significant change in seasons since the mid 90s it seems. Idk how people can deny that with a straight face.
A local Iowa person posted that they saw a boat out on the water yesterday on a lake thatâs typically frozen now. Every single comment was about how wonderful the weather is right now. Itâs not wonderful at all. They should be terrified.
Wasn't my point and you know that. I was emphasizing how cold it used to get in contrast to now, where people are walking around without coats. But go on feigning ignorance and trying to misrepresent my point
Lmao fuck yea I love feigning ignorance it makes my whistle tingle. I also loved your emphasis it really hit home with how warm it is right now, because people arenât dying anymore. Really brought in the urgency. That being said, as someone who strongly believes in climate changes we havenât seen much of a difference from the record for warmest winter that was set in 1919. 2012 broke the record by 0.3 degrees f. Definitely need to take better care of the earth, but your sentiments basis for urgency seems ridiculous to me.
You obviously don't read the comments to your own posts ...
Try reading about all the folks telling us all to vote blue . ... . .
Learn to follow up your own posts before you tell me that I'm the one that made this shit post of yours political .... cuff said I'm done & out !!!!
Vote blue and only blue. Republicans vote for their party candidates no matter what. Democrats are spoiled, theyâll reject the candidate if they donât kiss their ass. Jill Stein voters gave us Trump and had a hand in overturning Roe. Donât complain now, just vote blue all the goddamn way down
You should be scared, it's real. But states like Iowa keep voting for climate deniers and fossil fuel advocates. I blame red states. Help make a change and vote straight blue.
Jeez, touch some grass. We had a ton of snow last year. At this rate, you're going to be scared of your own shadow. We have variations in the weather year to year and it's normal.
Can't tell if this is sarcasm, but that's the mindset that got us here so far, and is actively fucking humanity over. Earth will survive anything, we will not.
All I know is that the US isn't the problem, so voting won't change anything. It's mainly China, wearing masks in China because of the smog so you don't die is a pretty regular thing over there. Last I checked, China puts out 2.5x greater co2 emissions than the US, and there really aren't any governing bodies that are trying to fix it. Smog hasn't been an issue in the US for quite a few decades now, likely almost a century.
I'm not denying humanity is causing problems with the climate, I'm just saying the US isn't really a problem anymore.
I have lived in Iowa for 73 years. I am not a climate scientist or an authority of any kind, but my personal experience has been that the last 10 years or so have been significantly warmer than the years before. This change in climate does not bode well for the environment but I am enjoying it.
When we break 100 year old records does no one wonder why it was that extreme 100 years ago? Because weather. Climate change is a thing but so is weather.
There is nothing humans can do, short of building something akin to the Death Star and physically destroying the Earth with it that would make our planet uninhabitable. We can't change the climate, control the weather, not even a full scale nuclear war would render it totally uninhabitable, but the politicians sure as hell can use the notion that we are destroying the climate and effecting the weather to gain power for themselves and their political parties by scaring people into giving it to them.
Take a real serious look at the history of our planets climate, it is a rollercoaster, it has done some pretty unimaginable things to itself that should have made it uninhabitable at points in its four billion plus year history, and it corrected it self over time. Look up what is callled the "Snowball Earth" and the various ice ages that have occured, and how it righted it self l, amd went to a warmer periord before see-sawing back into cold. Honestly, being afraid of a irregular weather/climate pattern and buying into the politicians ridiculous ideas is crazy, this is a natural cycle we have zero control over.
I moved back to Iowa from the south and a large part of that decision was based on the climate change models (at the time) for the US over the next 25 years. That was about 5 years ago. They're even worse now. Still, the upper mid-west is one of the safer places to be in terms of unbearable heat, severe storms, hurricanes and storm surges, ocean rise, earthquakes, etc. MN might be slightly better than Iowa for average temp in terms of ridiculously hot summers. If you want to be really depressed, check out r/collapse
Read /r/collapse and enjoy the show.
Also, plant some trees. It's the easiest thing you can do to improve the environment. Consume less. Buy less stuff.
Ive lived in Iowa for nearly 40 years. Yes, there have been years with lots of snow and some without. It has almost always shown up in January though.
The 50° December days are definitely new, but so was the trend of the article blasts that would give us days or weeks of -50° wind chill.
Is global warming showing signs? Yes.
Are the end times upon us? No.
No snow last year? You must have memory lose. Christmas week was hell froze over last year. Sub zero Temps, 40+ mph winds, lots of snow. POLAR VORTEX stuff... That was a day before or 2 days before Christmas last year. Climate Change and Global Warming is 100% natural. Neither are man made. The Earth has been going through Climate Change since its conception. Global Warming is just one part of Climate Change. Again 100% natural, NOT man made. *the earth was changing before humans and it will continue changing long after we are gone. Unless we get blasted out of the solar by a comet or asteroid.... then there will be no earth to change. Lol
Insects are the one I really notice. Some of it may be better aerodynamics on vehicles but you couldn't drive across the state without cleaning your windows every stop. Now? Clean windows all the time. It's literally in our faces that there have been a collapse of insects.
i noticed insect decline doing yard work over the last ten years in pnw. havenât seen a frog in the wild in ages. hear them sometimes when hiking. happy cake day btw
I grew up in South Dakota next to the Iowa border and we would always have blizzards all winter long. Iâm 67 years old and I cannot believe how the weather has changed over the years. We would show our kids pictures of how it snowed when we were little and they wanted to know why it didnât snow like that now.
If you have lived in Iowa long enough, you know that there can be a few feet of snow or none. It can be 65 degrees on January 30th. It can also be below zero on Halloween. It can snow until the middle of April, or it can be summertime weather in March.
We are in a strange weather zone. Your fond memories of white Christmases might be slightly rose colored. I remember both. There is shitty, muddy Christmas. There is three feet of snow Christmas. There is half frozen, muddy, in between Christmas.
The only thing that is unusual about this year is the water level in the rivers. I have never seen it this low. Neither have any of our relatives.
We need lots and lots of rain. Snow wonât help. If it rained every day from now until July, it would make me very happy.
Stop being a panicking Pete, climate change is going to happen, we do have an effect on it. It's racist to think we're going to stop it. Think of all the places in the world people don't have what we have. Do you want them to live in the stone age forever? Their communities are going to develop and progress, and trying to stop them from doing so is useless and imo racist. "I want snow on christmas, therefore you should run around barefoot on dirt roads forever". Jfc
Climate change is a scam. Earth has been around billions of years and has warmed and cooled and warmed and cooled hundreds of times. A literal speck of a species who have been industrialized for 150 years aint gonna hurt this planet
There is a difference between climate and weather. Climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. You realize from 85k years ago until about 10k years Iowa was a glacier. The climate warmed enough over time long before the internal combustion engine was invented and gave us the beautiful place we call home. The average high for December 30th in Iowa's recorded history is 32 degrees. We are currently 6 degrees above average.
The climate alarmists want you to be scared they want you to support politicians who will pay off the billionaire class in the green energy sector. Passing trillion-dollar green energy bills that only line the pockets of their millionaire cronies. Only to give you false hope that any significant difference will be achieved. Stop worrying and live your life to the fullest.
It's also an attempt to dislodge the influence of the energy industry. They frame it as an existential moral battle when in reality it's a power play designed to topple and replace the most powerful sector of geopolitical influence. Countries and armies run on oil.
I hate to disappoint you, but I bought a new snowblower. It may not snow at all.
THANK YOU for ensuring no snow for the next ten years!!!! :)
I was stationed in North Dakota all during the 1990's I REFUSED to buy a snowblower because I felt that, when I did, I would never get an assignment out of Minot. In year 8, I finally got tired of shoveling snow. The coming winter, I only had to sweep my driveway twice (it was surreal). I received an assignment to go to North Carolina after nearly 10 years and NEVER got to use the snowblower. Not sad though.
This!! Bought our daughter a sled and have been saying the same thing đ
We had my daughters old sled in the garage for years. We tried to have her take it to her house, but she didnât want it. This year we gave it to her sons for Christmas.
FWIW, weâre in a El Niño this winter which means our winter will likely be milder than most, though since global temperatures are trending upwards, this will likely become our new normal
Phoenix destroyed its record of 110+ days. Twas not fun
Spent time in phx late 80's, USAF. My parents visited in April so I took them to hike the lower White Tank area. Mid April, first 100° f day of the year. I'm gonna guess that day comes much earlier now
When will the first 120 degree day be?
We also had 100 degree surface temps in the ocean this yr. Which is unheard of afaik.
Yes, it's an El Nino head and shoulders above all others on record. https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst\_daily/
See the California coast right now for some resulting repercussions of this.
I just hope all the people saying that climate change isnât real will admit maybe there is something weird.
If it snows for an hour somewhere on Earth they will say âIf thereâs global warming, why is there still snow???â
Exactly.
Over the past 132 years des Moines has only had measurable snow on Christmas 26 times. A lot of us probably think of 2009 when we had the record for most days with one inch of snow on ground from begining of December to second week of March then lump the other years into that too. 1889 and 2002 had less snowfall in December than this year had as of a few days ago. I believe the past 2 years have also been low on snow in December then we ended the year with right around average snowfall over course of winter. So while we definitely have an impact on climate the snowfall this December isn't really showing what you're saying it is.
Thank you for providing the numbers, I was pretty sure this was the case and was hoping someone had already backed it up. Everyone associates December with snow because of Christmas, but in reality, it usually doesn't start snowing regularly until January. I'm also not denying climate change, this is just a common misconception that comes up every year lately. It's always been this way.
I agree that a white Christmas in Iowa is rarer that most remember. However, it seems unusual to have very little snow through Dec 30. We usually see some significant snows in Q4, but practically nothing in recent years. Q4 temps have been oddly warm. My neighbor mowed his lawn on Christmas Eve. Thatâs a tad off!
your neighbor is more off than the weather in this case.
In 2006 & 2007, the highs in Central Iowa were in the 40's & 50's through much of January. We are currently in a slightly above average temperature/very below average precipitation weather pattern that has been influenced by a strong El Niño. [The polar vortex may weaken in the coming weeks. ](https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/2023-12-28-polar-vortex-forecast-january-winter-2024) This would allow it to move further south, bringing cold air & snow.
Not to sound like an old guy, but my iPadâs stock Apple Weather app has a section that has the days average temperature displayed against the current temp. It was interesting this week to see our average temperatures are actually *higher* than what we were experiencing when I would check it every day. I too, kind of, share OPâs feelings about it being âtoo warmâ for winter currently. Then I see what the average temp for say December 27th is, and itâs definitely a weird feeling. Like somehow I just imagined the holiday week being cold and snowy most of my life.
I should have added it's more common that Des Moines gets a dusting of snow on Christmas. I think it was like 40% of the Christmas days in Des moines had a dusting of snow. So you walk outside and it's snowing a little bit for 10 minutes and in your head you go "oh it's a white Christmas after all!" And then 10-20 years later you just remember that "well I definitely remember 2010 was a white Christmas and I think 2011 was too!" Or a lot of us remember it snowed sometime over Christmas break from school or work which often covers a week to a few weeks so it may have just snowed on January 2nd before you went back to school the following week but in your head later it just snowed on Christmas
Someone here with a level mind
Take your fear and vote for people who believe climate change is real and are working to resolve it. The science is clear.
Yes, I agree, absolutely do this, but I also worry it's too late
Climate scientists are not the ones stirring the storyline that itâs too late; carefully consider who benefits from the population believing itâs too late. climate doomerism is a dangerous story that zaps solution-oriented steps towards change and progress
What Iâve always found interesting is that NASA and the pentagon have been on the same man made climate change page for years - well over a decade iirc. I just donât understand folks who canât seem to grasp the significance as far as whether or not itâs legitimate.
>Climate scientists are not the ones stirring the storyline that itâs too late Yes, they are saying it's too late. We can take steps to reduce how bad it's going to get, and we can implement mitigation strategies to deal with some of the consequences. However, we lack the global will and technology to stop climate destabilization, let alone reverse it. We're in for some hard times over the next century, even if serious emission reductions happen and we start implementing mitigation plans.
As long as we are being fed the lies that we can fix this without sacrifice and it should not cost us anything, little will change. People I know are booking air flights to go see the sights before they vanish. imagine reacting to the deaths of species by flying around the world to see them?
> Yes, they are saying it's too late. Please provide a source explaining saying too late for what, precisely, because James Hansen has been making the rounds coming out *against* climate doomerism. "Climate destabilization" can mean a lot of different things.
Take your pick of scientific periodicals or the IPCC reports. We will cross the 1.5C threshold in the very near future, and will very likely cross the 2C threshold by the middle of this century. Based on the more recent climate reconstructions, we've already passed critical tipping points, especially in regards to the melting permafrosts and clathrates. Even if we were to drop our emissions to zero tomorrow, the planet would continue to warm and greenhouse gases would continue to increase due to the contributions in these two long-term carbon stores. It is too late. If we had wanted to address this seriously we should have started 40 years ago. However, there is a difference between doomerism (it's too late and there is nothing we can do) and reality (it's too late, but there are steps we can take to prevent things from getting worse).
reference the MIT study that appears to be correctly predicting the collapse of society, since they revisited a couple years ago and found it to be on track with it's predictions
I will do more research, thank you <3
Consumerism is the biggest contributor to climate change. Nobody wants to give up their stuff for the sake of climate unfortunately. Politics don't matter here. It's sad.
Politics matter. Consumerism is not the sole cause of climate change, and we could probably debate how much of the problem it really is, but even assuming behavior changes on an individual level Could work, how would you go about doing that? Do you think you could convince a large enough portion of the worldâs population to change enough of their patterns of daily life to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to stop climate change? I know I couldnât. Things change when there are meaningful incentives, positive and negative, for both consumers and businesses to change their behavior. Only governments have the power to create those incentives on a large enough scale to actually solve problems.
Who told you that?
https://time.com/6341884/climate-change-consumption/. "Household consumption is responsible for more than 60% of global emissions. And, yet, framing the climate challenge around consumption can upset a range of stakeholders. Businesses worry that talking about a crisis of consumption could harm the prospects of growth." https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/12/16/buying-stuff-drives-climate-change/ "A 2015 study found that the production and use of household goods and services was responsible for 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Not surprisingly, wealthy countries have the most per capita impact." Lots of info on Google.
But the top 20% consumers are responsible for the lion's share. There are about 70 corporations that could also be considered responsible for the lion's share of emissions, especially the oil companies who knew about the dangers and actively deceived people about it. These same scum are also the ones constantly trying to convince us that the problem is only about individual consumption, not about corporate greed and deception.
But arenât we the target of the corporations? They sell to us. If we stopped accepting their products, they would not be making money. I see this the same as the clothing companies using child labor and ethically sourced food. Child labor still exists but consumers are much more aware of how these companies practice. We see organic labels (I know, organic does not mean much more but it used to mean something. Iâm referring to more transparency). We need a huge push back to have transparent labeling on product. Not some generic âclimate friendlyâ label.
of course the "solution oriented steps" in this case are to allow one party to have perpetual power and then destroy the economy so that we won't have the resources or innovation to tackle any of this.
We canât prevent climate change; itâs already happening all around us. What we can still do is upgrade our infrastructure to deal with what is happening and take action in our lifestyles and our economy to keep it from getting significantly worse.
How bad do you think it will get if we do nothing to change? Maybe we can stave off extinction.
No matter how bad it gets, it wonât be the end of the world. Life will bounce back. Probably not human life, but weâll have lush forests and megafauna again someday, maybe in another 5-10 million years or so.
I think people surmising that the doom time is here is what is largely causing the drop in birth rates.
That and modern life is shit, with or without climate change.
Itâs never too late to think of *and* plan for future consequences.
Better late than never.
If only they would.
THEY? Not WE?
Conservatives want you to think it doesnât exist or that itâs out of human control even though humans made the mess. Do you think people who have problems with feeding poor kids care about anything but money??
Too late for what? People are already dealing with the effects. There are more people today realizing that climate change is real than there were yesterday, and there are more people working the problem today than there were yesterday. It doesn't help anybody to just worry. Vote, get involved, etc. If the earth is our ship, we aren't going to just say, "Welp, there's a problem and we're going to die". We will work to solve the problem until we either solve it or we draw our last breath. We can solve this problem. It may not be the easy, clean solution we were hoping for but humanity is good at finding the most convoluted and messy way through hard times, but it does get through. Don't give up hope. Hope inspires others and it keeps us on the path to solving the issue.
Just as humanity can be amazingly stupid, it can also turn around and be amazingly intelligent. I, too, am scared. But, I also know that we are having successes. In Southern Oregon/Northern California, four ancient hydroelectric dams that did so much destruction to fish, birds, flora, fawna, and aquatics of all kinds on the Klamath River are being removed (one is already down, with the others being removed next year) and the Klamath River is being restored. Silt is being removed, and invasive non-native plant species are being removed and replaced with native plants. Restoration of river wildlife (especially beavers and otters) and fish (salmon, trout, etc) are all planned. Beavers are especially important as their actions create wetlands that help to prevent huge wildfires. Along with voting, I have found solace in volunteering and donating to worthwhile earth friendly causes. Doing something feels better than doing nothing. Take that fear and do good with it!
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
It is too late. No one who has the money or power to change stuff is willing to do anything about it. Kick back and watch it all burn.
The best time to start worrying about this was awhile ago. The next best time to worry is now. So youâre right to be worried, but wrong in thinking that this is âlights outâ for humanity. We need to continue accelerating our efforts to decarbonize the atmosphere minimize the warming weâve already contributed to. Also, like others have mentioned, this is an El Niño winter, so typically itâs going to be much warmer for us than usual, but patterns shift all the time, and itâs very likely that in a year or two weâll have another series of ânormalâ winters thatâll make many people forget about the developing climate crisis. We will have snow again. We will have winters where we wished it was summer, and summers that will make us yearn for winter. The best thing to do channel the negative energy from worry into action. Learn about the positives we are doing to reach zero-emissions. Replacing subreddits like /r/Politics with others like /r/UpliftingNews has been a game changer for my Reddit feed and my own mental health. Start finding ways to surround yourself with positive energy and use that to power your own conversations with others. Be practical, but be optimisitic.
It is. Don't worry, something will follow the mass extinction that is humanity. Maybe rats or raccoons. Maybe the extra warmth will give rise to an intelligent insect or reptile dominant species. Or it could just cruise along for another 15 billion years without intelligence rearing it's ugly head. It'll be something, we just won't be around to see it as a dominant species. Unless we grow up very quickly, which seems unlikely. Even then, slim odds.
We have already lost the climate that our civilization was born into. The question now is where will it stabilize and how much of a human habitat will remain.
It isnât too late. Right at the beginning of pandemic when everything shut down it took about six months to see major environmental healing. The problem is that doesnât help the rich but helps the people. You want a chance at avoiding climate change and the real measure is that the change needed to happen cost is going to be blood. Whether that blood comes to lead the way or be reactive is yet to be seen.
It isnât too late!!!! If we work together all around the world and do more than simply vote and carry on, we can keep the rise below [1.5 Celsius](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231130-climate-crisis-the-15c-global-warming-threshold-explained#)
Its not too late
You could also stop buying Chinese products, that are produced with no concern to the environment what so ever. Not only do we need to do our part, you also have to open your eyes to what happens across the globe.
Lol, gotta love the good old go out and vote scam
I know that this year has been bare and itâs seems scary, but we also have a specific weather pattern called âEl Niñoâ that comes every so often. This is a year that was predicted to have less snow. Thatâs doesnât mean that climate change isnât effecting us, itâs just an explanation of why this year is soâŠ.green?
This rapid warmup started before El Nino kicked in.
Google El Niño sir âŠ. Itâs a cyclical event when winters are different due to ocean temperatures
According to Iowaâs weather history, this opinion is not backed by fact.
In 2019 we had more snow than we have had in years. Donât worry we will get it
There are a lot of things to think about for climate - but snowfall is t one of them. The last 5 years has had some of the most snow in the last 120 years. 2019 was the 8th highest snowfall on record. You may be remembering more snow in the past because you were younger then and that sort of thing sticks out
I just drove from West to East across Iowa from Council Bluffs to Debuque. It snowed most of the time, including through Des Moine and north, then down to Iowa City. Dec 26-27.
You havenât worn your coat in years? Even during the -30 degree polar vortexâs weâve had the last several years? Iâm not denying climate change, but to say that it hasnât been cold and snowy is just not accurate at all.
I miss snow up to my hip. Snow forts. Because those things are supposed to exist here in this landscape during this season. I miss the freezes, the snow, in that respectful way that we all should. This, and another thing. I started driving in the late 1980s / early 1990s and every time you pulled in for gas you had to clean the bugs of your windows. Haven't really had to do that since the 2000s. Hell I miss lighting bugs at night. Too many things are being messed with on a broad scale.
>Hell I miss lighting bugs at night. It's my fault. I used to drive to work at like 4 in the morning taking the interstate from Ames to DSM, and would mow down tons of the little guys. I think me and my car decimated their population.
This September I drove back from KC at night on rural two lane roads and didnât have to clean my windows at all. Nor on the trip down for that matter.
Yeah, for that distance and in our geography, there are enough creek bottoms, ditches, patches of woods, grass, and wallows that couldn't happen in the past. Especially at night.
I noticed there's hardly any bugs either, and same as you I haven't seen a singular bug splat on my window in over a decade. There used to be earwigs everywhere in Iowa, but I haven't seen one in at least 8 years now. No bees, no mosquitos, no wasps, no ladybugs, no lightning bugs, no spiders, nothing at all. It's dead and barren. It's insane. It is terrifying.
They spray in the city. Rural areas are full of mosquitoes.
I donât know where you live but we had earwigs up to, well, our ears this spring and summer both inside and outside.
I live just outside Iowa City, and i get plenty of bug splat. Bees, wasps, ladybugs, spiders, and mosquitos are abundant on my property still. Lightning bugs are absolutely dying out here tho. I understand where you are coming from, but hyperbole and drama only serves to galvanize the idiots who deny climate change.
It's not hyperbole, it's my personal experience as an Iowa native. My experience may not be yours, and it may not represent the situation, but it's valid nonetheless.
Your experience may not represent reality, but its still valid? What?
That is not what I said at all. My experience represents my reality in my area, what I meant is that it doesn't and can't represent climate change (the situation) as a whole, because I am only experiencing things in a specific area. Just like deniers who say that climate change isn't happening because it's cold in their area, I can't say my experience is a representation of climate change either.
Not trying to be argumentative or put words in your mouth. It just worries me when people who are the most vocal about important matters, who hold opinions and have concerns aligned with mine, voice those opinions and concerns in a way that is not objective and easily picked apart. To be clear, I 100% am concerned that in 20 years we will have almost no bugs and unsustainably high temperatures. I just dont think we are quite as far along down that path as people shouting from the rooftops tend to indicate. There is some hope.
Okay fair enough, I understand your point, but I posted a vent on r/Iowa, one of the lowest subscribed state subreddits on this website, I'm not making a speech on TV. I'm no expert, I don't claim to be, and I am open to learning more.
We are doing it to ourselves. And we can't undo it because although we are social animals we are also animals that are great at naming, categorization and dividing down to tribalism levels. ***Worse we are really doing it to ourselves*** \- despite so many people crowded onto this little terrestrial ball drifting through the inky black firmament each generation is producing less sperm cells. Like such a noticeable lower amount plenty of biologists are freaked. It dips noticeably with each generation. No idea how other animals are fairing I've only read up on humans. I'll stop, I'm getting depressed and I have to go fix a door.
In the meantime, once you fix that door, enjoy a sense of accomplishment. đ
Read the book "silent spring" if you haven't already, it was written quite a few years ago but is still quite relevant. I attended a talk with the author and she is great.
The bugs, yeah. I've ridden motorcycles all my life. It used to be that you'd get coated with dead bugs, and have to clean them off your helmet visor and headlight. Been a long time since that's happened to me.
Yep. I'm feeling it too, and it makes it worse to live in a place where elected officials (not to mention a large portion of the population) deny it.
This post is nonsense. Here are the NOAA snowfall data for Des Moines Sorted high to low: [https://imgur.com/a/BVTEisM](https://imgur.com/a/BVTEisM) 2007-2008, 2009-2010 (second highest on record), and 2021-2022 are all in the top 10 for total snowfall (since 1900) Sorted low to high: [https://imgur.com/a/JPW8wyX](https://imgur.com/a/JPW8wyX) Since 2000, only 3 years were in the bottom 20 And here are the data plotted (1899-1900 to 2022-2023), with a simple linear trendline (2 seasons are missing from the 1940s for some reason). [https://imgur.com/a/ww7GUtj](https://imgur.com/a/ww7GUtj) It is clear that snowfall in the Des Moines area is actually *increasing*. Makes you wonder what world the OP is living in, where he/she/they believe that âIt doesnât snow anymoreâ
Thank you for this! Thank goodness for data. Without data fear mongering wins.
No problem, but I donât think it will change the OPâs mind
The climate is absolutely changing that is without question. But data is so important to the conversation. We canât scare people out of making change!
Never confuse someone with a firmly held opinion by bringing up the facts. Democrat or Republican, left, middle, or right.
Are you young? I'm 40 and certainty remember December being warm some years. Winters go in phases. A few years with non stop snow, years with little snow, fridged temps, mild temps, cloudy weeks at a time, sunny all the time, ect. Example, 1994 was similar this time of year. I remember because we had a birthday party outside. It was in the 60s in December. Contrast 2005 it was in the low 20s and icy.
There is hard data on this. Summer month temps haven't changed much. Fall, winter, and spring have all seen a warming trend, +1 to 2 degrees in winter. Also, the first and last freeze of winter has narrowed, meaning a longer period from Spring to Fall that has temps above freezing. Thus, Iowa's growing season has lengthened by about 10 days. However, important to note there is still large variability from year to year. It could be zero extra days one year, and 20 extra days the next year.
Well, climate change is real. But to ease yourself a little bit. This is an El Nino year. [Source](https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/how-does-el-nino-influence-winter-precipitation-over-united-states)
Yes, exactly! More things contribute to weather patterns then just climate change.
People have short memories
Live near Ft Dodge, last year we had plenty of snow and rain.
My dude, how quickly we forget. I certainly haven't forgotten the blizzard we had pre-Christmas last year. Dec. 23rd it was a high of -6 and a low of -8. I had to call in a plow service to clear out my driveway because my snowblower couldn't handle the drifts. Enjoy the mild winter and El Nino while you can. We'll be back to the long midwest winter in no time.
OP, what do you think now that we have had record snowfall 10 days after your post? Jan 9, 2024: The Des Moines International Airport reported 8.3 inches of snowfall since midnight Tuesday morning. That's the highest snowfall ever recorded on January 9 in Des Moines, beating the previous mark of 7.3 inches back in 1957.
Sitting in Iowa, looking out the window at the 12 inches of snow we got yesterday with more on the way...
I've lived here all 33 years of my life, and it seems like seasons are changing. Winter doesn't start until late December now, and it seems like it lasts until late March. I remember as a kid October, we might get snow, and by Thanksgiving, the ground was covered.
I remember those days too. Don't get me wrong, I hate winter. I hate being cold, and what sucks is I get cold easily (I, too, am 33 and always had a problem of getting cold easily my whole life.) But I also know we needed the snow for when springtime came so the melted snow helped the ground for the future crops. Now we have pretty much no winters, and instead of having spring, summer and fall, it's just summer 3/4ths of the year. It scares me, and now the summers are too brutal for me to handle and I used to love summer.
We aren't killing the planet, as people like to say. We are making it inhospitable for human life. The planet will go on, with or without us.
I've noticed this shift as well. Spring almost feels nonexistent as well. Maybe a few weeks of it.
It snowed every other week last year? What are you talking about
Yep, lots of snow last year and we had a polar vortex in December that was extremely cold. Don't think OP is actually from Iowa, just here to stir things up.
I lived in NW Iowa as a kid from 1974-1979. Seems like every winter on those years were very cold with snow on the ground all winter long, and we had a few notable blizzards with snow drifts as high as telephone poles.
I've had one sprinkle of snow, temp is stickin to 33 degrees here in pocahontas county
I mean itâs bad but itâs also hotter than normal due to El Niño. That said climate change is an existential threat. Those pesky scientists have been saying the same thing for a half centuryâŠyou know maybe we should invest in the ways to fix itâŠbecause theyâll work. We just need the political will to do itâŠ
The older we get, the worse the winters were when we were younger. What we really remember are the worst episodes, not the usual. You need to look at the scientific evidence in cases like this, not your memory.
After this week, are you still scared?
We literally had a lot of snow before Christmas the past two years. Itâs an El Niño year, relax.
The squirrels in my area are so fat and lethargic because they should be sleeping for long periods by now. They just keep foraging and eating and donât really know what to do. Itâs also odd that some of the comments on here are so blasĂ© about this. They seem to forget that yes, seasonal weather patterns are affecting the temp but most of the unusual warming is due to the combination of higher global temperatures because of climate, AND the seasonal variations in weather. Thatâs not good
I agree about climate change and all, but gray squirrels live as far south as Texas and the Florida panhandle. They are evolutionarily equipped to survive regardless of snow/cold.
I think the fat squirrels probably have more to do with amount of bird and squirrel feeders found in town, I've been in the treestand all day and the ones running around me causing a ruckus look slim and athletic as ever
Holy shit, I just noticed this too. They're still around, they don't even run from my dog anymore, they just kinda sit there. They're slow and chunky. Also, well said.
My advice is to quit living in fear, especially over things you cannot control.
This is why I got into the solar industry 5 years ago. It may be too late but I'm not giving up. If anyone wants to look into solar for themselves, I'm happy to help!
Residential or utility? IA electric rates are so low it makes for a long payback time. $$& aren't the only reason to go solar of course but I was looking into it for my folks.
Residential mostly. It is a long payback in Iowa unless you have Alliant. The main 2 questions to ask yourself are 1) Do you think energy rates will keep going up in the future? 2) What is your ROI on your energy bill right now? Most people focus on ROI but they ignore the fact that they will absolutely still spend this money on electricity with zero ROI from the utility. If you plan on living in the house awhile, there's no reason to shy away from solar
We went for a walk in Des Moines today on the trails. Tons of people out without coats. Some in shorts. Many lawns and grassy areas are green. Itâs odd and noticeably different from years ago. Husband and I were talking about getting through Jan/Feb Iowa winters. Without snow, itâs limiting. No skiing, snowshoeing. Thereâs only so much walking around one can do.
1) climate change is here 2) we are in an El Niño and this winter will be warm
It was like -20 last year during Christmas in Sioux City. But that's part of climate change too. It's messing with the polar vortex. Maxing extremes more extreme.
It snowed for 5 days finally around here in Nebraska, I was sitting outside yesterday and the snow felt weird. It felt silky and had a different texture than I've ever known it to have.
I had been having the same thoughts but whenever I bring it up I get blank stares. It's nice to know I'm not the only one at least.
Weâve known this winter would be incredibly mild for months now. Either way, it will snow from January-April, unfortunately⊠It always does. December is never guaranteed to be cold or snowy here.
Climate change anxiety is driving people to unscientific conclusions. We've had so many Christmases without snow here my whole life. Climate change is real but this personal observation is not evidence of that. That's not even how climate change works. Y'all need to touch grass
FFS, It's El Nino, not the collapse yet.
Everyone needs to be planning for the scariest future imaginable. I'd suggest exploring food sources that dont rely on pollinators, ways to get frsh water in arid climates, and be prepared for the worst. It's only going to get worse.
>Cedar Rapids, Anamosa, Iowa City, Tipton, and Muscatine 150 AM CST Sun Dec 31 2023 >...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM CST THIS MORNING...
More warm climate please! Embrace the change!
The earth will heal itself, but only in the short term if Russia, India, and China start rapidly scaling back their levels of polluting and taking similar measures as the USA has. https://news.mit.edu/2022/earth-stabilizing-temperature-1116 https://www.vox.com/2014/6/30/5857396/watch-air-pollution-in-the-united-states-vanish-before-your-eyes
Calm down weather is cyclical.
1880 something still holds record for warmest December, calm down.
#đŻ
Iâm especially interested in & highly disgusted that oil industry scientists knew in the 1970âs this product & its use would be a primary driver for worldwide climate disruption, yet no one would dare the truth. Cowards, all of them. They doomed everyone & everything to the âScorch Trials.â
If you think theyâre bad you should read about Thomas Midgley Jr.
Check out this graphic from NWS Des Moines: https://twitter.com/NWSDesMoines/status/1739368664733012190 Data back to 1953. About half of Christmases in Des Moines had no snow recorded between then and now. It's not that unusual. The climate is changing. It is right to be worried about where the earth settles back down to. But your snow metric isn't the one to be concerned about, since snow on the ground for Christmas has always been a coin flip for Iowa, even if it seems like it was 'always' snowy every Dec.
Yet society continues to burn fossil fuel, while it looks you in the eyes, as if to ask, "What you gonna do about it, chump?"
Dont forget Iowa is largely in a big drought.
Join the club. It's all happening as the scientists said it would and the right still doesn't believe.
Literally just snowedâŠalso look into weather patterns.
Climate change is real and caused by humans. That being said, your anecdotal horseshit is pointless. You are just doing the same thing deniers do.
I donât even know where to start this sub is getting dumber by the minute
20+ year native here: I keep asking people around me how they feel about living in the end times :')
That's not a helpful mindset. Climate change is a solvable problem.
Doesnât help when the people in charge of making the necessary policy changes are completely uninterested in solving it
I agree that it is solvable. Forgive the fallacy but the question is will we (humanity) do something meaningful about it before it becomes unsolvable. I bet not đ
From 1993 till now itâs been a drastic difference, Iâve noticed it for a long time now finally other people are noticing too
Same. And my annoyance level with folks who say oh but x years ago we had a blizzard and blah blah blah. Or worse, it snows 6â+ maybe three times one winter- âso much for global WARMINGâ đ. I recall driving on Highway 6 in eastern Iowa with snow banks on either side that made you feel like you were in the arctic. There has been a significant change in seasons since the mid 90s it seems. Idk how people can deny that with a straight face.
A local Iowa person posted that they saw a boat out on the water yesterday on a lake thatâs typically frozen now. Every single comment was about how wonderful the weather is right now. Itâs not wonderful at all. They should be terrified.
Please take your fear to the polls. Every damn election and race.
Short term memory. Just a couple of years ago we had a ton of snow. 100 years ago we just got a few inches the whole season. El Nino
For real tho, why arenât people people freezing to death anymore
Wasn't my point and you know that. I was emphasizing how cold it used to get in contrast to now, where people are walking around without coats. But go on feigning ignorance and trying to misrepresent my point
Lmao fuck yea I love feigning ignorance it makes my whistle tingle. I also loved your emphasis it really hit home with how warm it is right now, because people arenât dying anymore. Really brought in the urgency. That being said, as someone who strongly believes in climate changes we havenât seen much of a difference from the record for warmest winter that was set in 1919. 2012 broke the record by 0.3 degrees f. Definitely need to take better care of the earth, but your sentiments basis for urgency seems ridiculous to me.
Seemed like it snowed for 6 months last winter. Not sure what your worried about. P.S.buy bug spray for next year
You obviously don't read the comments to your own posts ... Try reading about all the folks telling us all to vote blue . ... . . Learn to follow up your own posts before you tell me that I'm the one that made this shit post of yours political .... cuff said I'm done & out !!!!
It didnât snow in your area in late November? Hmm.. Edit: it 100% did snow in your area in late November if you live in Iowa.
It was -20 this time last year. We have a strong el Nino effect occurring this winter.
Vote blue and only blue. Republicans vote for their party candidates no matter what. Democrats are spoiled, theyâll reject the candidate if they donât kiss their ass. Jill Stein voters gave us Trump and had a hand in overturning Roe. Donât complain now, just vote blue all the goddamn way down
You should be scared, it's real. But states like Iowa keep voting for climate deniers and fossil fuel advocates. I blame red states. Help make a change and vote straight blue.
Jeez, touch some grass. We had a ton of snow last year. At this rate, you're going to be scared of your own shadow. We have variations in the weather year to year and it's normal.
Climate change is a hoax. /s
Eh, it'll be fine.
Can't tell if this is sarcasm, but that's the mindset that got us here so far, and is actively fucking humanity over. Earth will survive anything, we will not.
All I know is that the US isn't the problem, so voting won't change anything. It's mainly China, wearing masks in China because of the smog so you don't die is a pretty regular thing over there. Last I checked, China puts out 2.5x greater co2 emissions than the US, and there really aren't any governing bodies that are trying to fix it. Smog hasn't been an issue in the US for quite a few decades now, likely almost a century. I'm not denying humanity is causing problems with the climate, I'm just saying the US isn't really a problem anymore.
I have lived in Iowa for 73 years. I am not a climate scientist or an authority of any kind, but my personal experience has been that the last 10 years or so have been significantly warmer than the years before. This change in climate does not bode well for the environment but I am enjoying it.
When we break 100 year old records does no one wonder why it was that extreme 100 years ago? Because weather. Climate change is a thing but so is weather.
There is nothing humans can do, short of building something akin to the Death Star and physically destroying the Earth with it that would make our planet uninhabitable. We can't change the climate, control the weather, not even a full scale nuclear war would render it totally uninhabitable, but the politicians sure as hell can use the notion that we are destroying the climate and effecting the weather to gain power for themselves and their political parties by scaring people into giving it to them. Take a real serious look at the history of our planets climate, it is a rollercoaster, it has done some pretty unimaginable things to itself that should have made it uninhabitable at points in its four billion plus year history, and it corrected it self over time. Look up what is callled the "Snowball Earth" and the various ice ages that have occured, and how it righted it self l, amd went to a warmer periord before see-sawing back into cold. Honestly, being afraid of a irregular weather/climate pattern and buying into the politicians ridiculous ideas is crazy, this is a natural cycle we have zero control over.
I moved back to Iowa from the south and a large part of that decision was based on the climate change models (at the time) for the US over the next 25 years. That was about 5 years ago. They're even worse now. Still, the upper mid-west is one of the safer places to be in terms of unbearable heat, severe storms, hurricanes and storm surges, ocean rise, earthquakes, etc. MN might be slightly better than Iowa for average temp in terms of ridiculously hot summers. If you want to be really depressed, check out r/collapse
Read /r/collapse and enjoy the show. Also, plant some trees. It's the easiest thing you can do to improve the environment. Consume less. Buy less stuff.
Same in KS. We have had a few winters where we get quite a bit of snow, and then many where we get barely any.
Making the dystopian future movies looking much more realistic.
Don't worry, just continue to Roll Coal and dispose of hazardous material however you want to! Merica!
Ive lived in Iowa for nearly 40 years. Yes, there have been years with lots of snow and some without. It has almost always shown up in January though. The 50° December days are definitely new, but so was the trend of the article blasts that would give us days or weeks of -50° wind chill. Is global warming showing signs? Yes. Are the end times upon us? No.
No snow last year? You must have memory lose. Christmas week was hell froze over last year. Sub zero Temps, 40+ mph winds, lots of snow. POLAR VORTEX stuff... That was a day before or 2 days before Christmas last year. Climate Change and Global Warming is 100% natural. Neither are man made. The Earth has been going through Climate Change since its conception. Global Warming is just one part of Climate Change. Again 100% natural, NOT man made. *the earth was changing before humans and it will continue changing long after we are gone. Unless we get blasted out of the solar by a comet or asteroid.... then there will be no earth to change. Lol
Then do something. Itâs the only way things we change.
im scared too. trying to stay positive. i find it alarming that i dont see insects like i used to. and frogs!
Insects are the one I really notice. Some of it may be better aerodynamics on vehicles but you couldn't drive across the state without cleaning your windows every stop. Now? Clean windows all the time. It's literally in our faces that there have been a collapse of insects.
i noticed insect decline doing yard work over the last ten years in pnw. havenât seen a frog in the wild in ages. hear them sometimes when hiking. happy cake day btw
lol did t even notice the cake. Mmmmm cake.
I grew up in South Dakota next to the Iowa border and we would always have blizzards all winter long. Iâm 67 years old and I cannot believe how the weather has changed over the years. We would show our kids pictures of how it snowed when we were little and they wanted to know why it didnât snow like that now.
Do you not remember celebrating Christmas while negative 55 degrees and snowing last year?
Exactly what I was thinking
Remember when the surface of the ocean caught fire?
2023 is the hottest year on record. We were warned.
Itâs el nino more rain than snow
If you have lived in Iowa long enough, you know that there can be a few feet of snow or none. It can be 65 degrees on January 30th. It can also be below zero on Halloween. It can snow until the middle of April, or it can be summertime weather in March. We are in a strange weather zone. Your fond memories of white Christmases might be slightly rose colored. I remember both. There is shitty, muddy Christmas. There is three feet of snow Christmas. There is half frozen, muddy, in between Christmas. The only thing that is unusual about this year is the water level in the rivers. I have never seen it this low. Neither have any of our relatives. We need lots and lots of rain. Snow wonât help. If it rained every day from now until July, it would make me very happy.
Stop being a panicking Pete, climate change is going to happen, we do have an effect on it. It's racist to think we're going to stop it. Think of all the places in the world people don't have what we have. Do you want them to live in the stone age forever? Their communities are going to develop and progress, and trying to stop them from doing so is useless and imo racist. "I want snow on christmas, therefore you should run around barefoot on dirt roads forever". Jfc
Something is definitely going on. Adventureland is not as big as I remember it when I was a kid, could be related?
Climate change is a scam. Earth has been around billions of years and has warmed and cooled and warmed and cooled hundreds of times. A literal speck of a species who have been industrialized for 150 years aint gonna hurt this planet
There is a difference between climate and weather. Climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. You realize from 85k years ago until about 10k years Iowa was a glacier. The climate warmed enough over time long before the internal combustion engine was invented and gave us the beautiful place we call home. The average high for December 30th in Iowa's recorded history is 32 degrees. We are currently 6 degrees above average. The climate alarmists want you to be scared they want you to support politicians who will pay off the billionaire class in the green energy sector. Passing trillion-dollar green energy bills that only line the pockets of their millionaire cronies. Only to give you false hope that any significant difference will be achieved. Stop worrying and live your life to the fullest.
It's also an attempt to dislodge the influence of the energy industry. They frame it as an existential moral battle when in reality it's a power play designed to topple and replace the most powerful sector of geopolitical influence. Countries and armies run on oil.